Calvi

Calvi gives you a rare combination on Corsica: a genuinely good beach that is also a town beach. A long crescent of pale sand curves away from the marina and the great Genoese citadel, backed by a fringe of umbrella pines, and on a clear day the mountains of the interior rise behind the bay, sometimes still capped with snow into early summer. It is the social, convenient end of the island's beaches, where you can swim, lunch on the sand and walk into a lively old town all in the same afternoon.

The water is part of the appeal. Sheltered within the bay, it is generally calm and shelves gently, so it stays shallow a good way out and suits children and unhurried swimmers. The pines behind the sand offer welcome shade, and a string of beach restaurants and paillotes runs along the bay for lunch, a drink or a lounger. Behind it all the citadel and the port give Calvi a sense of place that a purely natural beach lacks, with history, restaurants and a marina all within easy reach of your towel.

Now the honest part. Calvi is developed and popular, so this is not the beach for solitude or wild scenery. In July and August the bay is busy, the restaurants fill and the town hums, and parking takes patience. The sand near the town can feel crowded at peak times, though the long bay means you can usually walk to quieter stretches. If you want an untouched cove you should look to the Agriates or the wild beaches of the south, but if you want ease, services and a beautiful setting together, Calvi delivers.

Who should skip it: travellers chasing an empty, undeveloped beach, who will find Calvi too busy and too built up. Who should go: families, first time visitors and anyone who values convenience, calm water and a town behind the sand. Pair Calvi with the wild Agriates beaches of Saleccia and Lotu to the east, the dunes of Ostriconi nearby, or the remote cove at Arone further down the west coast.

Calvi is one of the easiest good beaches on Corsica to reach, which is part of its charm. The town sits in the Balagne in the north west of the island, served by its own airport and port, and the beach begins right beside the marina and runs around the bay. You can walk to the nearer sand straight from the old town, while the small Balagne tramway rattles along behind the beach with stops near the quieter stretches, a handy way to avoid the summer parking.

Because there is a full town behind the sand, you do not need to carry a day of supplies, though water and shade are always sensible and the pines help. The sheltered bay is usually calm, with the gentlest, shallowest water suiting children, and a short walk along the crescent takes you from the busy town end to more relaxed sand. June and September give warm sea with more room and easier parking than the July and August peak, when both the beach and the town are at their liveliest.